Fire up Your Board for Fundraising
Comprehensive Discussion of the Webcast Content
The webcast content portrays several ways through which an organization can adopt in the process of firing up the board in the process of fundraising. The webcast illustrates fired up system using seven steps to convince the board’s passion into participating in fundraising. The discussion also entails ways of understanding what the board wants thus the achievement of the first step towards wooing them to fundraising activity (Perry 2012). Fired up system operates on three actual phases: Fire-up your board (phase 1), Redefine Fund Raising (phase 2), and Easy NO ASK Jobs (phase 3).
Phase one focuses on firing the board on the cause of the project to make them aware of the need to participate in the project. There are seven steps in firing up the board into participating in the fundraising project. The first step entails the introduction of the personal story that requires the implementation or adoption of fundraising project. This would enable the board to learn on the discussion issue. The second step involves illustrating to the board why the personal story is paramount. This entails demonstration of the need and importance of the fundraising project in meeting the demands of the personal story. Mission moment is the third step in encouraging the board into participating in the fundraising project. This step involves inspiring, encouraging, and highlighting the challenges encountered when participating in the fundraising project. It is crucial for the board to understand the need and inspiration of adopting fundraising project. The fourth step involves organization and execution of engaging meetings on planning how to fulfill the project. There are several ways to ensure that the meeting with the board is captivating and loaded with objectives and inspirations. These ways include focusing on the results, organization of creative agenda, emphasizing on the problems, challenges, and broad issues, focusing on the trends, planning big for the occasion, and cheer leading the sessions (Perry 2012).
Other methods of creating engaging meetings include breaking into groups, creation of mission moments, selection of unique themes for every meeting, interviewing the executive director, and adoption of consent agendas. The fifth step in firing up the board involves understanding the needs and requirements then providing to them what they desire. Make the board understand that their time is precious while participating in the fundraising project. The sixth step is organization and execution of social time to enable the organization fire-up the board for fundraising. The creation and provision of social time promotes the development of trust and collegiality among the board members as a consequence a boost towards the personal cause. The social time also enables the board to develop an effective and effecting team. Absence of trust, minimal or lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, fear of conflict, and lack of attention to results contribute to dysfunctions within a team. The last step in firing up the board is availing the action items. This step focuses on the illustration of the roles and responsibilities of the board. The step also highlights on the duties and obligations of individual board members (Perry 2012).
The second phase of the project of firing up the board in adopting or participating in fund raising involves a redefinition of the term ‘fundraising’. Fundraising should not mean begging, rejection, or cold calls. In this phase, the board should focus on discussing their fears by talking about what they think about requesting or asking for contributions. This indicates critical discussion of the dark side of asking for a contribution. The board should also discus on the joyful side of asking for a contribution. The phase also should also highlight the difference between volunteers and donors in the process of fundraising. Fundraising should aim at friend making rather than adopting the donors’ view (Perry 2012).
The last phase (phase 3) involves identification of most influential individuals who can contribute towards transformation of your organization’s future. The other component of the third phase is the creation and execution of advice visits in relation to fundraising. In the process of advice visits, it is crucial to ask for short appointments, avoid being dull, check out on time, listen, when in doubt just shut up, and always remember to follow up (Perry 2012).
Discuss how you could use the webcast’s content as a fundraising professional
I could use this webcast’s content to know how to approach the board or any organization to participate in the fundraising project. This would entail effective and efficient application of the seven steps to approach the board to participate in the fundraising project. The content would also enable me to create effective mission moments during every meeting. It is also ideal to understand the effects of social times in generating effective and the appropriate team. The webcast content is also ideal in developing a functional team. This is through avoiding elements of dysfunctional team in the process of asking for a contribution. The content is also vital in the development and execution of engaging meetings thus achieving the focus of the key stakeholders.
The content of the discussion would enable me to practice efficient advice visits. This is through adopting persuasive techniques and ignoring or rejecting ineffective ones. This would aid the process of fundraising in a professional manner. It is also necessary to understand the needs and perspectives of the key stakeholders in order to reap maximum benefits. I will adopt an efficient list of the most influential people in meeting the requirements for the cause (fundraising). The content of the webcast would also enable me to create and execute accurate objectives and aims of the cause in a more professional manner in the absence of the crucial information. This would ensure improvement on the quality of the project through valid planning techniques. It is critical to learn how to present the views and importance of the fundraising projects to the key stakeholders. This webcast content would entail my understanding on the illustration of the aims while adopting professional techniques. Webcast content would also provide accurate information on how to view the fundraising project. This entails identification of the dark and the joyful sides of the fundraising project. I would be able to offer critical view to the fundraising project through evaluation of information from this webcast content. This is through essential evaluation of the meaning of fundraising project. The content would enable me to adopt the friend-making aspect of fundraising to foster maximum utilization of the process.
Discuss how the assigned readings and classroom lectures inform your thinking about this webcast.
The fundraising process should adopt the term ‘we’ rather than ‘it’ in order to obtain maximum benefits of contribution process. It is crucial to understand elements that appeal to donors or volunteers in order to capture their maximum contribution and commitment (Karoff 2005). This would yield maximum products for the organization aiming to participate in the relevant cause. The readings and lecture notes indicate that the process and message in the process of firing-up the board should be straightforward. This involves highlighting the cause and its importance in a simpler way to enable the board and other relevant stakeholders avoid confusion over the project. It is ideal for the contributors or donors to understand the cause in order to have crucial idea on where their resources go (Henze 2005). This would encourage their maximum commitment to the cause thus accurate and efficient implementation of the fundraising tool in the professional manner.
The readings highlight the influence of presentation and organization of engaging meetings with prospective donors or contributors. This notion is also application in the seven ways of firing-up the board according to the webcast content. This would encourage the organization in organizing effective meetings with creative themes and agendas with the aim of achieving the objectives of the cause. Adoption of segmentation system in soliciting funds would enable the project capture numerous efforts or contributions thus maximum utilization of resources. The webcast content identifies fundraising process as friend-making activity. This notion is also accurate with the evidence from the readings highlighting on the essence of cultivating effective relationships through donors or contributors. This is an indication that fundraising project is a project aiming to create a lasting relationship between the parties interacting (Foster and Ditkoff, 2011).
References
Karoff H. Peter. (2005). The Public and Private Persona of Philanthropy: The Donor Challenge. New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising, No. 47, Spring 2005 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Henze Lawrence. (2005). Planned Giving Tips for Every Organization. NONPROFIT WORLD Volume 23, Number 6
William Foster and Susan Wolf Ditkoff. (2011). when you have made enough to make a difference: a strategy for becoming an effective philanthropist. Harvard Business Review January–February 2011.
Fire Up Your Board for Fundraising: Turn Their Passion into Action (2012). Presenters: Gail Perry, MBA, CFRE, and Author, Fired-Up Fundraising; Diana Hand, Marketing Manager, GuideStar USA, Inc. (moderator).
Ciconte, B. L., & Jacob, J. G. (2009). Fundraising basics: A complete guide. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Urbanczyk, R. (2001). The fundraising guide for chairpersons: Seven steps to coordinating non- profit and church organizations fund-raising events, including dinners, dances, raffles, bazaars, field days and lawn fetes. USA: Universal Publishers.
